which version of windows to use with fs2004?

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Hello,:) Does anybody know which version of windows will allow you to get the most out of fs2004?My current cpu is the intel dou core e6850.What should the page file be set at if you have 2gigs of memory ?Finally, I have the new ATI 4870x2 2gig video card. I noticed that the default catalyst control center, will not :( produce a clear image as per say the program used for the nvidia cards called nhancer does. Is there another option for the ATI based cards to set up 3d?If anyone can answer 1,2 or all questions it would be very helpful and thanks in advance. :-wave

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Vista32, far better memory management than XP (also impacts FS9 memory management, makes it use less memory and unloads unused memory, less chance that usage grows over 2GB and gives you out of memory error).Swap, the best IMO, is automatical.As far as I know, there is nothing similar for ATI cards. One of reasons why I changed from years of ATI usage to Nvidia. Never been happier with picture quality (Nhancer 8xS setting).

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>Thanks for the response .I was starting to think nobody,>knew, or even thought about the topic.......Thanks>again:-beerchug>>I did my own research and found out xp is in deed faster check>this out ---->>http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/xp-vs-vista,1531-4.htmlAchmech, first of all, this post was done January 2007! Until today, there is a service pack, and many improvements.Secondly, the memory management I will gladly exchange for couple of FPS. I get great performance in all my aircraft under Vista.Besides, I couldn't really measure any difference in FPS in comparison XP to Vista (and yes, it was the same flight with the same settings and scenery).Do as you wish, I did real test in comparison. XP was *not* faster :)

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Just want to add your perfomance will suffer with that card if you are using a 32 bit operating system. The 4870 is a 'Very' good card but you are better off with the 512mbAlso it is generaly excepted ATI has better visual quality then NVIDIA if set up right.I have AA 24X Edge detect AF 16X Mip map Quality + Adaptive AA qualitydrivers 8.10 This should be in the hardware forum..Rob

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A 2 GB video card with any 32-bit OS is serious bad juju. The hardware mapping will take up half the available address space just for the vid card, leaving Windows and your apps to share less than 2GB of address space. You'll be in OOM he11.I'd recommend Vista 64 or XP 64 if you can find a copy.RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

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Computer hardware and Software has left me in the Dust. When I was a Young Man, I could stay Current with Byte magazine(later Maximum PC). Now I find myself dazed and confused by the too rapidly changing CPU and GPU advancements. Still when I built this Computer I purchased Vista to get a clean install on a new Hard Drive. I'm sure you've heard most of the Horror Stories about Vista! Well! I experienced them all. In retrospect, I should have tried and attempted to use one Program at a Time for a Test Run. But in my Zeal to get up and running with a new Graphics Card, Fast new Duo Intel Processor and blazing fast memory, I just dumped everything from the old Drive to the New. After Three Weeks battling with Vista's security and protocols, I had to throw in the Towel I reverted back to XP. As a parting shot (maybe it was My fault) Microsoft reformatted the Drive, wiping all Programs from the Disk before reinstalling XP. Yes Vista has a new Service Pack and is supposedly updated and not so Cumbersome to use, but I'm Gun Shy. Bill :-erks :-erks :-roll

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Hi acmech.If you are buying a new OS, get Vista 64 Premium at least SP1, if you do Not need Fax, if you do you need to go step above, Business etc. If you have XP, SP1 or above stay with it.If you get the 64 be prepared for the need of 6 GB of RAM, to get a good efficient running system, and a lot of headaches, many have been resolved by now. The only reason you may want to get Vista is because of future compatibility, MS is pushing it down out throats. Vista is less efficient, fewer drivers and bulkier. If you can get an XP64, for less money, that is the most efficient way to go, if you want to go beyond 4GB of Memory mapping.ATI has the best Graphics quality, if it's set up right, set it up in th ATI CC with around 4-8 AA, AF and disable it in FS. Make sure you get the right Drivers and set it up properly. Once you get it right, keep the driver you have, for at least 6 months, updating every week will only start the cycle all over. The problem with ATI, and MSFS, is the Clouds, but they can also be set up to look / behave very good. TV

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I'm about to RMA my XP 64 OEM disk I got from TigerDirect due to lack of critical (for me) drivers and less than steller software compatibility with a lot of my add on payware scenery.Just my experience after two weeks of trying.

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Guest OneTinSoldier

>Computer hardware and Software has left me in the Dust. When>I was a Young Man, I could stay Current with Byte>magazine(later Maximum PC). >>Bill :-erks :-erks :-roll Hi Bill,I just wanted to say I think you are mistaken. I believe there was a Byte magazine, but Maximum PC was not formerly Byte Magazine, it was formerly Boot Magazine. Easy enough mistake to make.Cheers

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Guest cuizinier

>A 2 GB video card with any 32-bit OS is serious bad juju. >The hardware mapping will take up half the available address>space just for the vid card, leaving Windows and your apps to>share less than 2GB of address space. You'll be in OOM he11.>>I'd recommend Vista 64 or XP 64 if you can find a copy.>>Regards>>Bob Scott>Colonel, USAF (ret)>ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V>Colorado Springs, CO>Hello,does 64 bit systems (vista or XP) have a larger than 4 Go Virtual Address Space ?Jul

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Guest cuizinier

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Hi, Bob and everyone.>That said, 32-bit programs (like FS) are still limited to the 4GB address space. But the OS, drivers, and especially hardware address mapping for things like Video RAM can all be placed outside the all-important lower 4GB, leaving much more room for user programs.<>..But the OS, drivers, and especially hardware address mapping for things like Video RAM can all be placed outside the all-important lower 4GB, leaving much more room for user programs.

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>>With the 64 bit OS. 32 bit maps everything / Video RAM within>the 4GB. TV>That's what I was trying to say...maybe not as articulately as I could have.The 64-bit OS puts almost all of the system stuff outside the lower 4GB. The video RAM in particular, is mapped to addresses above 4GB.The 32-bit OS first does the hardware mapping, which gives a sizeable block of address space to the video RAM, blocking these addresses from use to access system RAM. Think of it like a really big cupboard with 4 billion (4GB) cubbyholes. You have a video card with a billion cubbyholes (1GB). The 32-bit OS starts by pushing the video cupboard in front of the memory cupboard, and the billion memory cubbyholes sitting behind the video cupboard are blocked and can't be gotten to.I see a lot of people lately sporting high-end vidcards with lots of RAM. If you have a 1GB video card in a 4GB system and a 32-bit OS, 1GB of your RAM will never, ever be used by the OS or any other program. And if you have two 1GB cards, then 2GB of your expensive RAM is never used. It just sits there blocked behind hardware-mapped video memory.I explained some of this in more detail in this thread:http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...52932&mode=fullCheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

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Guest Aviator4life

No idea why so many, will go to such great lengths to build a dream machine and NOT go dual boot.x32 XP on one drive, x64 Vista Ultimate on the other drive (stay away from partitioning a single hard drive and installing both OS's on a single drive setup to make sure and avoid any possible driver conflicts.A solid E6850 3GHz Core two Duo, 4 Gb of performance RAM, Nvidia 9800GX2-1Gb, 780i motherboard, 850W power supply, Antec 900 air-cooled case (no liquid cooling necessary), dual 150Gb 10,000rpm Raptor hard drives. Each OS installed on it's own drive. No Raid setup necessary. KISS (some of you will know what that acronym stands for). Rock solid/stable pc gaming platform. All on a dual boot machine.What? Your software won't "play nice" on x64 Vista? No problem, install it on/through your x32 XP OS. Need/want to play the "latest and greatest" with DirectX 10 and support for more than 3Gb of RAM? No problem, install it on/through your x64 Vista OS.Haven't run into the software yet that I CAN'T install and run problem free on my machine.You can build it EASILY for less than $2,000 USD, and you have built-in upgradeability for literally years to come.Well, maybe that was more than two words, hehe.Best Regards

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>>No idea why so many, will go to such great lengths to build a dream machine and NOT go dual boot.Probably for 4 reasons: 1. Added expense of 2 OS's.2. Most people have their machines built FOR THEM, and dual boot is not particularly well understood (like over clocking).3. XP 64 and 32 do not necessarily dual boot easily.4. Most people aren't as crazy as you and I, and would much rather just PLAY their games rather than TWEAK their games. :-lol >> . . . and you have built-in upgradeability for literally years to come.This one really had me on the floor laughing!!! Not if Microsoft has it's way (which it almost always does). :+

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Guest Aviator4life

For the record, FS9 is a happy camper on and with my XP x32 drive and FSX is a happy camper on and with my Vista Ultimate x64 drive.Now for the peanut gallery / computer guru wannabes ROFL!! (Thanks indeed for making me smile today! :) ):"1. Added expense of 2 OS's."I don't know about you but for the rest of the world the OS is a one time expense. It is NOT exhorbitantly expensive as you would make it out to be. Not by a long shot. Go buy a new "state of the art" graphics card and see how much money a second operating system is in relative terms."2. Most people have their machines built FOR THEM, and dual boot is not particularly well understood (like overclocking)."Not nearly as complicated or risky as overclocking can be/is. What's to understand? You install the OS's normally, XP then Vista, and select DIFFERENT drives when you do so. When you boot up your machine, a prompt asks you if you want to boot to VISTA or an earlier version of windows, you select one or the other.The proverbial "piece of cake". It couldn't be easier. Doesn't even come close to the complexities involved that are part and parcel of overclocking."3. XP 64 and 32 do not necessarily dual boot easily." WELL . . .I never said anything about doing a dual boot with XP x32 and XP x64. I specifically stated XP x32 and Vista x64. Wasn't posting about a double XP boot at all. Read my post again."4. Most people aren't as crazy as you and I, and would much rather ust PLAY their games rather than TWEAK their games."Hey rocket scientist. That is specifically the reason why I had this machine built! So I could spend more time gaming and less time tweaking. In this statement you show that you completely missed the point of my post in the first place. You didn't "get it", not even a little bit.">> . . .and you have built-in upgradeability for literally years to come.This one really had me on the floor laughing!!! Not if Microsoft has it's way (which it almost always does). :+ "You don't say?Well how about when I add a second or third graphics card, go to 16Gig of RAM, or upgrade to a quad core processor? My machine is already almost a year old and I can run virtually anything on it with absolutely ZERO, count 'em ZERO, that's zip, nada, none, problems.I am absolutely certain that in another 6 months to a year when I do some of the hardware upgrades in my long term "game plan", this machine will still be providing outstanding performance and be more than adequate to run what the software developers are putting on the market. At that point, my pc will be approximately 2.5 to 3 years old, hence the "built in upgradeability for literally years to come."As a matter of fact, there is currently only one pc gaming software product out there that was designed to take advantage of a quad-core processor. I suppose that upgrading to a quad-core processor down the road is laughable too in your book. Okey Dokey!Will there be a new OS out by MS by then? Well, you know all about that so I won't try to "enlighten" you. We all know what is around the corner as far as MS goes. Does that mean everyone, not to mention me, is going to throw out their machine when it is released. Nope, sorry bucko, not this guy. Talk about added expense! And btw, since the early 1980's when I became a pc consumer, I have never needed, relied upon, or consulted with MS to determine my hardware configurations or pc purchases. I can think for myself. MS dictate my pc purchases/hardware gameplan? Now it's my turn to roll on the floor laughing at someone who implies that letting MS dictate their pc purchases is NECESSARY and/or wise consumerism.The trouble with your point of view (and I mean no disrespect), is that while you SEEM to make some good points when your words are taken at a glance and in ignorance, the fact of the matter is that nothing you said in your reply makes any sense in regards to my post. Not even a little bit.Take some pot shots at something else. I love my machine, it is one of the smartest pc purchases I have ever made. Bang for the buck, INCLUDING the price of two OS's, you can't beat it. Yup, getting 3 years of stable, completely acceptable performance out of a pc these days is hilarious and an impossible thing to do. Keep on telling yourself that as you are ordering yet machine #4 or #5 (the first three or four which you post so proudly in your signature, I can't recall atm).I am not talking about staying on the bleeding edge every time a new product cycle is begun (a fool and his money . . .), I am talking about a rig that will keep you a happy gamer for the long haul. Yes, a dual boot system like I specify, VISTA x64 and XP x32 (NOT AS YOU DESCRIBE - a dual XP system, which is definitely laughable) is still a good choice. Especially since hardware prices have DROPPED on the components in my machine since it was built (by a local "boutique" pc business btw). It took them waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay less time to explain how they did it and for me to understand, than it did to write this post.I quit ALL serious "tweaking" the day I put this cpu on my desktop. With all due respect to your reply, you really don't have a clue. Assume less, learn more.Best Regards

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Wow, you really told me! Dude, you need to take a chill pill and quit thinking arguing on the internet is a life. I was just trying to kid around with you.Considering I don't have a clue, and how much you can "educate" lil ol me, I won't waste any time at all with you. Didn't even finish reading your post because it's all opinion. And opinions are like a__holes. Everybody's got one. Not as big as yours, but everybody does.Adios, bud and

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Guest Aviator4life

>Wow, you really told me! Dude, you need to take a chill pill>and quit thinking arguing on the internet is a life. I was>just trying to kid around with you.>>Considering I don't have a clue, and how much you can>"educate" lil ol me, I won't waste any time at all with you. >Didn't even finish reading your post because it's all opinion.> And opinions are like a__holes. Everybody's got one. Not as>big as yours, but everybody does.>>Adios, bud and Thank you for demonstrating your intelligence to everyone who reads this. The fact that YOU came back with only immature personal attacks and a ridiculous euphemism (look it up) while saying nothing to refute the points I made only serves to prove yet again that you said nothing of substance.I stated a point of view. You took some potshots at it based on misinterpretation or just a plain lack of willingness to listen to what someone else had to say. So I'd say that you are the one, who at least in this case, chose to make a "life" out of arguing with someone for that sake of arguing.Please do us all a favor and point out the myriad topics that show how I think arguing with others on the internet is a life.I'll say it again.Assume less, learn more.Doesn't matter if you read my posts or not. Everyone else knows who the one playing "keyboard karate" is.YOU STILL HAVEN'T SAID ANYTHING that addresses the FACTS, and rationalizations for them, I have posted.Thanks for making me laugh again today. :)Now it's time for me to move on as I have wasted enough time on you, that IS for certain. Why? Because you have made it abundantly clear that there is nothing you can gain from meaningful communication with others as far as the topic of this thread is concerned. Have a nice day! :)

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